When Magic Remains, Ritual Continues
by Jester310
Summary: There are days where both of them are enslaved by sense of duties. But there are also days where they will do nothing but let their minds empty of needless thoughts and warm sea breeze to gently lull them while they sit lazily next to each other. Those are their lazy days. Those are when Doflamingo would call his brother Roci instead of Corazon.


**Title: When Magic Remains, Ritual Continues.**

 **Rating: T for swearing**

 **Pairing: [Corazon x Doflamingo], [Gladius x Baby Dellinger].**

 **Warnings: OOC-ness, grammatical errors and plenty of cuteness on Dellinger's part.**

 **Summary: There are days where both of them are enslaved by sense of duties. But there are also days where they will do nothing but let their minds empty of needless thoughts and warm sea breeze to gently lull them while they sit lazily next to each other. Those are their lazy days. Those are when Doflamingo would call his brother Roci instead of Corazon.**

 **A/N: Again, need BETA. Full Stop. And Merry Christmas to all readers!**

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 _ **6.15 am**_

Their day began—well, almost began with a squeaky noise made by the door hinges. Short and wobbly, that persuasive little sound had caused a tiny amount of disruption to Doflamingo's deep slumber. It sliced through the silence almost like a hot knife slicing butter and enough to make the blonde stirred with a soft grunt, but unfortunately not enough to force him cracked his eyes open. That noise could only mean one thing, and one thing only—someone has just entered his room.

His suspicion was further justified when heavy footsteps or more like extremely clumsy, heavy footsteps echoed throughout the room. One steps, two steps, three steps—they went on and only paused momentarily in front of the door of the bathroom located inside the captain's quarter. The light switch was flicked and the florescence light inside the small adjacent room flickered few times before silvery white light filled every nook and every cranny inside the bathroom.

Doflamingo's eyes fluttered open when the darkness in his room was toned down quite remarkably due to the light escaping from the bathroom. He squinted afterwards at what he considered as harsh light and listened to the sound of running water. A soft sigh pursed the captain's lips as he turned his head slightly to the side, watching the sky through the bare window.

Outside where the mist began to scatter in the sky's dark blue, the stars too have begun to grow paler and paler with each passing minute. It was slightly before dawn and even though they were in the middle of the sea, the captain could have imagine that how on mainland, the birds have grown restless in their nest up high in the tree tops as they flapped their wings and chirped and twittered their own melodies.

Another sigh escaped his slightly parted lips before Doflamingo sat up on his bed, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so. Hearing the water running so lucidly had only reminded him about his need to use the bathroom himself.

The floor was icy cold and the blond winced as soon as the sole of his foot made contact with the surface. Just great. Now that only made him wants to use the bathroom more than ever. With a wobbly and slight shuddery steps, Doflamingo quickly made his way across and entered the bathroom without so much warning. He wasn't all that startled to see a familiar blond standing by the sink as the said person washed his hands lazily under the running tap water.

Even with his back facing the door, the other must have noticed him—surely he did—but it was either the said person still had half of his consciousness stuck in dream land or simply too lazy to acknowledge the captain, Doflamingo felt that his need was much of a bigger concern at that moment to actually care about the other.

"Move, Roci." Doflamingo nudged the blonde known as Roci, or more precisely Rocinante slash Corazon with his elbow for the other to give him more space so he wouldn't have to feel smothered while urinating.

Many times the captain had wondering on the reason behind his brother's persistency in using his bathroom every morning, or even at night. Sure there's no bathroom inside the Heart executive's sleeping quarter, but the man still could easily have access to the other ships' toilets which was approximately forty steps away from his room. Then again, the younger Donquixote must have deduced that he could save the energy of the rest thirty steps when he just used the bathroom inside the captain's quarter which was right fucking next to his room.

Really now… Talk about an opportunist.

Corazon didn't make any immediate apparent noise or move that really suited to Doflamingo's order just now. Instead, he took his time spitting into the sink bowl a couple of time to remove any unpleasant saliva clogging his airway, ran the water some more before turning off the tap. Only then he moved away from the sink and exited the bathroom while yawning on his way out.

The time taken to relief himself wasn't that long, probably lasted less than a minute. Doflamingo pulled his night pants up, flushed the toilet and went on with washing his hands. The knob squeaked slightly as the captain turned it clockwise and shook both his hands to remove any access water. He even turned the light off before exiting the bathroom entirely and padded his way back to his bed. It was still too early and he deemed that going back to sleep was indeed an enticing idea of the day. As he approached his bed languidly, Doflamingo wasn't the least annoyed to see half of the mattress was occupied with what could be considered as a human lump.

… Of course. Corazon must have figured that it would save him the energy of ten steps by just crashing on his brother's bed instead of going back to his own. Another privilege of being the captain's younger brother and not to mention the only living relative left.

At very least, the younger blond still have the decency to stay at one side of the bed…

Still, a deep frown managed to carve the captain's forehead as Doflamingo stood only two steps away from his bed. As usual, the image of his brother hogging the blanket all by himself filled his vision. As if that wasn't bad enough, said brother even warped the thick, velvety material around his body, making him appeared similar to a rolled cuisine or something alike.

The captain clicked his tongue and climbed into his bed while he reached for the edge of the blanket—his blanket. It was still freezing cold at this wee hour and Doflamingo refused to fetch himself another extra blanket since the one that his brother currently clutching on like it was his dear life was the thickest, the fluffiest and therefore, his favourite.

"Let go, dammit…" Doflamingo hissed through clenched teeth and tugged the blanket towards him.

His initial attempt was met with zero success when not only Corazon gave away an unintelligent grunt as a respond; idiot even tightened his hold on the blanket. Annoyed with the lack—or maybe none—of cooperation from his younger brother, Doflamingo changed his tactics. Instead of prolonging the never ending tug of war, the older blonde slipped his hand into the top opening of the rolled blanket and made a quick firm grab of the back of the executive's neck.

Almost instantly, he felt Corazon's whole body tensed and went rigid like concrete. And the exact moment Doflamingo exerted some pressure and dug his fingers into the taut muscles, the younger quickly gasped and squirmed uncontrollably inside the blanket. An unhealthy smirk split the blonde's face into half. He made full use of the common knowledge of Corazon's ticklish point and waste not even a moment in seizing the blanket the second his brother's grip went slack. If that wasn't enough to express his wiliness, Doflamingo took the extra effort in pressing one foot firmly against the executive's broad back while his fingers gripped on his blanket before exerting force into his thighs, enough to send Corazon's tumbling down from the mattress with a surprised yelp.

With unholy satisfaction, Doflamingo huffed, lay down and wrapped the blanket around himself and sighed afterward at the delicious warmth it offered.

While down on the floor, Corazon scrambled around at the lack of warmth and fumbled around for any purchase that would gave him less than five percent hope to help him in this predicament. When none came around, a small whine left his throat which sounded a lot like an abandon puppy and less like an executive slash undercover marine. To intensify the stupid guilt trip within Doflamingo's heart, Corazon scratched the wooden flooring with his blunt fingernails and meekly tugged the blanket his brother was holding on to.

Something fuzzy was tickling his insides and Doflamingo forced himself to believe the stupid sensation was due to the cold, not, and abso- _fucking_ -lutely _not_ because of guilt trip.

Regardless, a soft sigh pursed his lips. "You know you can always climb back to bed, Roci…" He murmured tiredly and pretended that he didn't just notice the imaginary puppy ears on his brothers' head perked up.

Corazon quickly climbed back, but his clumsy nature made the climbing appeared as an act of challenge, especially when he fell back down to the floor twice before he finally got a solid foothold on the bed. The third time was always a charm and the younger Donquixote crawled underneath the blanket and pressed his icy fingers against both sides of Doflamingo's neck in order to obtain sufficient heat.

… Or he simple wanted to punish his brother.

Whatever reason it was, it only made the captain jolted in his bed and hissed, "Fucking hell, Roci! What are you?! A snow creature?! Get them off of me!" Doflamingo shoved the offending hand away from his neck only to have them wrapped around his torso in a vice grip. The older blond was aware that more than once, he had given his little brother a hard time especially when assigning him a mission, but what he didn't realize was for Corazon to hate him this much till the point of wanting to smother him in his sleep.

Talk about a harsh way to die…

Apparently, push and shove didn't do much except getting their limbs all tangled up together with the blanket. By the time the struggle reached the third minute, it was already too hot and humid underneath the blanket that Doflamingo could barely feel the coldness any more. He gave up in the end with a long, defeated groan and allowed the executive to press closer against him until his longer, golden strands tickled the underside of his brother's jaw. With half of his mind down the gutter, the older Donquixote hardly realized on how his hand instinctively went to Corazon's head and how gentle his fingers were as they ran through the younger's soft strands.

That time, Doflamingo scoffed at the idea that Corazon's gentle heartbeats and soft, even breathings were the ones that lulled him back to sleep.

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 _ **9.00 a.m.**_

Doflamingo was officially in Corazon's shit-list. Full stop.

That must be it. If not, why else would he be lying on the floor for the umpteenth time for the last three hours and now nursing the soreness concentrated at the back of his head? Each time he tried to crawl into the bed only to have him pushed back to the floor by the barely conscious executive. He's a former World Nobel and captain of a pirate ship for fuck sake. And yet, here he was, degraded to a whole new level where he had to lie on the floor with aching back, bruised head and torn reputation while his little brother slept on his bed, snuggling with two plush pillows and still covered by the thick blanket that they fought for earlier on, from head to toe.

The very same little brother who had kicked him off the bed. If there was one in million chances that Corazon did it on purpose without an ounce of remorse, then Doflamingo felt he had every liberty to smother his brother with a pillow then and there.

As he laid there on the floor half naked, the captain continued staring at the ceiling for another five minutes before he finally sat up. Then he stared at the wall for another two minutes, sighed and wobbly stood up by placing his palm on the knee for extra support. Two short strides were all that required for the former World Nobel to stand right next to the bed and stared down at the sleeping form.

From his vantage point, Doflamingo could easily make out the peaceful façade of his younger brother. Free from any of those annoying face painting, the older Donquixote noticed—not the first time—how long Corazon's eyelashes were that each of them seemed to flutter for each breath the other exhaled. Similar to him, the younger was a quiet sleeper who barely snores even in his deep slumber, saved for occasional grunts when something displeased him. Bright morning light was a very good example. His long blonde strands spread almost evenly on the pillow and every once in a while, the executive would sigh and nuzzle further into the pillow as his tugged the blanket up to cover half of his face.

So peaceful… So adorable and innocent it made Doflamingo wanted to crawl back into the bed and cuddle his little brother.

… Yeah, right.

Gritting his teeth, the captain slipped his long fingers in between the mattress and the bed frame. Once he got the solid hold of the bedding, Doflamingo flipped it almost ninety degree, which was more than enough to throw the occupant off the bed along with the pillows and blanket. A loud 'thud' shook the tranquillity of the room slightly, followed by a pained groan and an annoyed huff from the captain himself. As he blatantly ignored the squirming mess on the floor, the former World Noble released the mattress in his hand only to have it settled by itself on the bed frame.

"My aching neck…" Doflamingo rubbed the back of his neck while he took few steps closer to the window sill. The sun-gold morning light that was forcing its way into his quarter failed to lift his mood even for a fraction as it dazzled the captain's eyes. There was once a thick, dark curtain to filter the annoying morning sunshine from creeping into the room, but it was down in blaze last month when Corazon—not surprisingly—tripped on his own feet somewhere inside the room, with a lighted cigarette in between his lips. The fire almost destroy half of the captain's quarter—including his bed and night stand—and the ship had to make a little detour to the nearest island just so restoration could be made.

From there on, he would conduct a full body check on his brother to make sure those damn cigarette stayed one hundred yards away from his room.

The older Donquixote deftly pushed open the window with his palms, allowing the morning breeze to slap him in the cheeks and rush into the room, filling every corner with fresh, salty air. His hair wasn't as long as his brother's, but Doflamingo still felt the gentle wind passing through his blond locks and licking every inch of his exposed skin. The sea that morning was calm with waves glittered like infants eyes; the tranquillity almost made him drowsy.

That is, before Corazon tackled him from behind and draped himself all over the olders' back, causing him to tumble forward and almost hitting his head against the window sill.

"Roci, watch it!" Was the first thing that came in his mind. But the words withered at the back of his throat when he realized that his brother was grinning childishly next to his ear, laughing even. It was hard to tell since there was no sound coming from him. Doflamingo had earlier suspected his brother would be angry, or at least annoyed after being thrown off unceremoniously from the bed, but clearly it was the other way around. There were times when no matter what kind of misfortunes befall on Corazon, his spirit would simply bounce back and went off chart, Doflamingo noticed this. This was a very nice example.

And it was that spirit that made Corazon to pull his brother away from the window and forced him to walk backward with occasional stumbles.

An unusual foreboding came upon him as the captain realized he was dragged back to the bed by his little brother who had his hands clasped firmly on both shoulders. Corazon must has planned something in his mind that was akin to some sort of punishment and he'll be damned if he fell for it. "Wait, wait, Roci!" Doflamingo flailed a bit, especially when he knew that he was nearing the edge of the bed. "Oh no, you don't—"

Too late. The moment the back of knees made contact with the bed, Doflamingo stumbled back and landed on the mattress without his consent. Before the older Donquixote could as much roll around to make his getaway, Corazon was faster to pin him down by straddling his stomach. A playful grin of his brother filled his vision right before he was hit in the face by a pillow, not once, not twice, but multiple times.

"R-roci!" The captain tried to gasp out while he put both of his arms up in defence mode, but the attacks were relentless. He could easily reverse their position by making use of his Devil Fruit power or even just by using his legs to topple his sibling over. In terms of raw strength alone, the older was far superior than the other; it was a solid fact that nothing out there could challenge. But he didn't. At any other time, Doflamingo was a captain—he was in charge of about anything and about everyone and he was a winner—, and he'd be damned if he allowed anyone to win over him.

This time however, was different. This time, he would allow his brother to do as he pleased and let himself to be at the losing end.

Though he did make the slightest effort to escape the punishment by twisting his body around and tried to crawl his way out of the man-made cage. But before he could make that far—probably only few inches—, Corazon changed the punishment modus operandi. This time, he used his fingers instead to tickle Doflamingo's sides.

Doflamingo gasped and squirmed under the treatment, trying to slap the executive's hands away to no avail. "S-stop, you clown!"

To be frank, the captain wasn't at all a ticklish person, or at least, as ticklish as his brother, but he laughed nonetheless. At this whole mess and the childish behaviour Corazon was displaying. They were born only two years apart, but the way his brother behaving at the moment made him almost overlooked the reality. Rather than acting like an executive in his early twenty, the younger Donquixote appeared a lot like a ten year old jubilant child without a speck of apprehension clouded his mind. Very seldom indeed, to see his younger brother grinning and laughing like nothing else matter. From the second Corazon stepped into the ship as his executive, only a handful smile ever grace his face, no laughter ever rumbled across his chest, saved for the occasional smirk. Most of the time, he had this cold expression painted on his features like it was his seconds skin, distant even.

And Doflamingo would be the biggest liar if he didn't admit that he actually do misses those relaxed smile and carefree laughter…

The punishment, if he wanted to call it as, went on and on—with Corazon tickling his brother's sides and neck and Doflaming's half-heartedly swatting the offending hands away with no sign of ending even after three solid knocks against the door pierced through the noise they were making.

"Young master..?" Despite receiving no palpable reply from the captain or the executive—both of them were too busy laughing—, the door to the captain quarter creaked open and a moment later, a small dark head poked through the opening. When certain that both Doflamingo and Corazon were decent enough, the girl further ventured into the room, only stopping at the spot where she could actually speak without having to shout to make herself heard.

"It's already late. Do you want me to bring breakfast here?" A mild disbelief was clearly reflected in her brown eyes as she watched how her captain was playing; well, interacting with the Heart Executive. What stunned her most was the fact that Corazon was outdoing him senseless and Doflamingo clearly made no effort to actually fight back. He appeared happy even, both of them in fact, and she could tell that her captain has been laughing for a while, if the coughing was any indication.

How rare indeed…

"Y-yeah." Doflamingo managed to answer the young girl in between laughter. Few hiccups were on their way from bubbling up since the rate of the air coming out of his lungs was so much faster than the air he could actually breathe in. If this prolong way too long, the former World Noble feared that this would actually kill him.

Death due to non-stop tickling… Yeah, not actually the kind of death he had planned for himself.

Baby 5 nodded in understanding, eyes still trailing over her captain's squirming form as he kicked the mattress repeatedly, probably to minimize the effect. "Tea or coffee?"

"I said stop, you c-clown!" His attempt to smack Corazon in the face was met with negative success as the executive saw the incoming attack and dodged it with ease. "Coffee! And the pumpkin pie from last night. If there's any left—would you give me a damn break, Roci?!—bring them too. And newspaper!"

Making a mental note, the girl murmured mainly to herself. Coffee for young master, pumpkin pie and newspaper." A short pause. "Cora-san? Tea for you?"

Said blond only nodded in confirmation while his hands still with the deeds of punishing his older brother. Since there was nothing else seemed to be added to the menu, Baby 5 walked off and closed the door behind her with a conclusion that she liked listening to her captain's and the Heart Executive's laughter no matter how silly it might sound.

That, and she would have to make sure the tea was tepid enough before bringing the breakfast in so the Heart Executive wouldn't spray the beverage all over the floor. Again…

When Corazon finally felt the fatigue in his arms, it was only then the younger blond ceased his attack. Looking down, he saw his brother was gasping for air and mildly wondered if he went too far just now. But after seeing the smile and the healthy pink hue dusting Doflamingo's cheeks, down to his neck, the guilt just now was stomped down, dead and lifeless, almost similar to when Diamante had stomped down the spider yesterday. It was gruesome, if anything.

As much as he wanted to enjoy tranquillity they shared at the moment, Corazon wasted no time in leaping away before Doflamingo managed to regain his breath and decided to strangle him senseless with his bare hands. He even created his own gate away by running into the bathroom to escape from his brother retaliation as well as to clean himself. Two purpose in one action, one venue. _Purrr—fect._

By the time Doflamingo finally able to breathe without actually wheezing, his little brother has already turned the bathroom into a temporary fortress, at the same time, carrying out his morning routine inside.

"I'm going to kill that idiot." The blond chuckled to himself while he laid flat on his back with one arm slung over his forehead. His eyebrow rose by few millimetres when the door was pushed open, fully expecting for Baby 5's presence together with their breakfast. Through the corner of his blue eyes, he witnessed the little girl juggled with the tray of food in both hands while tucking the newspaper under her left arm before settling them both on the nightstand—the tray and the newspaper. She then wordlessly collected the clothing articles littering all over the floor—Doflamingo's yesterday shirt, pants as well as Corazon's tanks—and piled them up on her left arm. Hell, she didn't even bat an eyelid when she picked up her captain's boxer brief off the floor to join the other clothes.

The former World Noble dimly wondered if they were showing good examples to the ten year old girl…

However, Baby 5 seemed oblivious with the captain's dilemma as she went on with her task. "Do you want me to change the bed sheet, young master?" She asked while she hung Corazon's beanie on the rack, right next to Doflamingo's coat. Given that she possessed a rather normal ten year old stature, or the rack itself was too high to suit the gigantic captain, the raven haired girl had to complete the job by standing on her tippy toe.

"No need." Doflamingo waved off her concern, considering he was too content lying on the bed to actually move. "I'll bring it to the wash later."

"Okay~" Knowing that she had completed the chores inside her captain's quarter, Baby 5 skipped her way out while she hummed some kind of song under her breath with piled up laundry in her arms.

Not two moments after Baby 5 left the room, Corazon re-emerged from the bathroom, just as the other sat up, with freshly washed face and teeth—Doflamingo really hopped the little idiot didn't use his toothbrush again—and made a quick stretching exercise there in the middle of the room. The older Donquixote only shook his head slightly as he stood up, and sauntered his way toward the bathroom to perform his routine as well and leisurely kicked the younger in the sheen as he did so.

Inside, Doflamingo took his time washing his face with tepid tap water and brushing his teeth. His toothbrush was dry when he first checked, so he had no worry over the thought of having it inside another person's mouth. _Heaven knows what else Corazon has been putting in his mouth aside from cigarettes._ Then, the blonde completed his routine with relieving himself from any related matters and flushing them down in one goes.

When he finally exited the bathroom, Corazon was seen sitting on the bed crossed legs, back pressed firmly against the bed frame as he slowly sipped on his tea. It must have been cooled down to a favourable temperature that the executive was able to drink it without scalding his tongue. He didn't even bother to look up since he was too busy tugging on the loose strands of his pajama bottom but he did acknowledge his brother when he felt the mattress dipped further under their joint weight.

Reaching across his brother, Doflamingo grabbed the tray from the night stand and brought it closer, placing it at the centre of the bed so he could sit right next to the younger's executive without having the tray in the way. He wasn't the type of person who typically did breakfast in bed, but today seemed to be a perfect day to do things outside the norm.

"Toast or scones?" Doflamingo asked after he took few careful sips on his coffee—cream, no sugar—and saw the Heart Executive pointed at the toast. As per requested, the older blond took a piece of the freshly toasted bread and using a small knife, he lathered a thick layer of butter before passing it to the other. After he made sure the executive got a good hold on it, Doflamingo then grabbed himself a buttermilk scone and whipped a generous amount of strawberry jam onto it. The captain stared at the clotted cream for a good five seconds and shrugged.

 _Maybe not._ And took a huge bite out of his first meal of the day.

Less than three minutes and approximately fifty chews, they were both done with the scone and toast and now moving on to the scrambled eggs and sausages. While Corazon appeared to be enjoying his eggs and sausages with every huge bite he took, Doflamingo was busy with the task of picking out the chopped onions from the eggs with his fork in great disdain. He later dropped the by-products of his earlier picking into his brother's plate, fully knowing that Corazon would eat them without a second thought. _Oh hey, he hates onions and his brother wasn't picky when it comes to food. No wasting done. So it's a win-win situation, yes?_

Both the eggs and sausages were finished in a leisure pace and as Doflamingo was ready to move on to his pie, the blond grabbed the newspaper from the nightstand for complimentary readings. He placed on his laps, once in a while he would turned the page over and nursed the plate of pie in his hands. Saved from the consistent cluttering of fork against the plate, there wasn't much conversation going on inside the room even after they were done with breakfast. Just so he could relieve his boredom, Corazon would take a quick read at the newspaper headlines before dismissing them with an amused snort.

They continued staying on bed like that without actually doing anything as though there were no pirate crews to govern and there'd be no surprise attack from the marine on this open sea for let's say, another two solid decades. But when his back started to feel sore from leaning too much against the bed frame—stupid Roci hogged the pillows—it was then Doflamingo decided that they needed to get out of their temporary bunker. If not sooner, then later.

Lazy, blue eyes trailed over the moving silhouette closely all the way from the bed and across the room, then slightly narrowed when Doflamingo closing in the closet before his brother took out a simple pale lavender dress shirt only to cover his previous naked top. His heart slightly palpated when the older Donquixote sauntered back to the bed and grabbed him by the arm to pull the younger up.

"Come one. Let's go get some air." It sounded more like an order rather than a suggestion, in which the executive wasn't up for. "It's getting stuffy in here." A mere excuse, but at least it was better than just dragging Corazon in his most defensive form.

Oh yeah, his little brother was definitely being defensive at the moment, and not to mention, uncooperative to the boot. Even when the captain tried to get the Heart Executive to move along, the subject of concern only responded by drilling the soles of his foot into the floor and shook his head in refusal.

Doflamingo scratched his head and sighed. _This is harder than he thought._ "We're going to the deck, Roci. Not to an open fire." The older blond added.

Indeed, it has long come in his attention on the lack of camaraderie between Corazon and the other executives, or even crew members in this case. Hostility wasn't the case, or rather, the younger was being distant and hell bent in keeping everyone at least three arms away from him like he didn't want anything to do with them. A small part at the back of his mind expected this scenario since his brother has always been a shy creature ever since they were children. Even back then when they were still living in Marijoia, the younger Donquixote rarely ventured beyond the gate of their mansion. He did go out once in a blue moon, but only because he was together with their mother or him in most cases and both of them must be within an arm reach.

Still, a very large part in him expected that after their fourteen years of separation, his brother would at least trim down that timid nature into a far more, tolerable degree. Clearly, there was a major lack of trying in Corazon's part.

"The weather outside is nice too." The captain changed his approach and tried to entice the other with, well, nicer pictures instead of mentioning the negative ones like pointing out the bland relationship among the executives. "And the sunlight."

Call him ridiculous, but the former World Nobel could have sworn the other snarled just now at the word 'sunlight'.

Instead of forcing Corazon to remove the nails pinning his foot to the floor, Doflamingo draped his arm over his brother's shoulders and brought the younger's' head closer and tucked it under his chin. "You definitely need it. A lot. Your skin looks so pale like you've been dead for weeks." As he kissed his brother's forehead softly, the older blond somewhat sensed the sulking expression his brother was making down there. "We'll just sit there, under the sun and do nothing. I won't even let Diamante or Trebor into our breathing space, alright..?"

Doflamingo murmured into the skin and kissed the other's forehead for the second time, allowing his brother to dig his fingers into the front of his shirt in contemplation.

The last part of the promise must have been enticing enough that Corazon finally nodded in agreement.

"Good boy." Praised the captain as he nuzzled into the soft, blond strands before slowly manoeuvring both of them towards the door. On his way before leaving the room, he managed to snatch the newspaper together with his feathery coat with him.

Even though both of them were far from their usual presentable state—Corazon still in his full set pyjama and Doflamingo in a simple shirt and pyjama bottom—none of them bothered to actually care.

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 _ **11.10 a.m**_

"Poor farmer…" Doflamingo mumbled, canine teeth biting slightly into pencil he was holding as he locked his eyes on one of the pages of his crossword puzzles book. "Start with 'p'…" He continued and shifted slightly on the recliner slash lazy chair until his shoulder brushed against his brother's next to him.

With a tilt of his head, the captain said, "Pathetic?" Then he realized it wasn't the correct answer since the empty boxes could only be filled up until seven characters.

And also because of the snort Corazon made just now.

A thin line of crease marked his forehead as the older Donquixote looked at his brother and frowned. "Oh yeah? You think you know the answer, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

Said Mr. Smarty Pants only grinned before he took the book and the pencil from his brother's grip and started writing.

"PEASANT." Each character was easily filled in the previously empty spaces. Corazon's handwriting was hideous—as usual—but the answer did hit the mark.

"Fine. So you know one answer—"

"TEENIEST." Again, the younger filled another blank space.

"That's only two—"

"SERENADE." By then, a huge, smug expression was glued on the younger's' face and Doflamingo doubted it could be wiped off with your regular detergent.

Perhaps, a smack or two might do the trick.

"Give me that!" Doflamingo snatched the book back from the Heart Executive's laps, huffed and grabbed the tall glass of orange juice from the coffee table in front of the duo. "You know what, fuck off."

While the captain grumbled behind his glass of orange juice, Corazon settled on the incliner, letting his head to fall back further as the huge, smug expression was slowly toned down to an unusual small smile. Beneath the temperate heat of the sun, the executive closed his eyes as he lay down on the chair with both arms on his stomach. They have been there in less than an hour, but the warmth and the gentle breeze and the sound from the seagulls—they slowly lulled him.

As per promise, Doflamingo indeed had informed both Diamante and Trebor—everyone basically—that the deck was off limit and they were only allowed to set a foot only, and only if it's a dire matter. Anything else could fuck off and filed for later complaint. Diamante had given him this odd look at first, only for few seconds, before the man shrugged his bewilderment away and continued to rock little Dellinger gathered in his arms to sooth the crying fit.

Or perhaps, just perhaps, he—no, all the crew members understood that when their captain called the Heart Executive _'Roci'_ instead of codename Corazon, it only meant that Rocinante was no executive that day, but merely and purely Doflamingo's precious little brother. And that's that. Nobody was insolent enough to interfere in between the brothers.

Two taps of his pencil against the current page and the captain looked to his right only to see his brother was snoozing off. Well, at least that was what he thought at first before Corazon's eyelids fluttered open. They remained half open though, letting his gaze travelled into a great distance of the vast ocean. Then he broke the gaze by blinking and grabbed his glass, taking small sips of his juice and sighed.

"What are you thinking, Roci..?" Suddenly the older blond asked, eyes still fixated on clues given to solve the crosswords.

Caught off guard, Corazon's eyes snapped open in their full sizes and turned to his brother. Doflamingo still didn't look up from his book as the other stared at him for a good ten seconds. Eventually, he met the executive's open stare and was answered with a headshake and a smile. Corazon wasn't lying to his brother. There was nothing in his mind at that moment. No needless thought swirling in his head. No Sengoku's voices rang in his ears. No undercover strategy pulling his mind apart. No information regarding Doflamingo's underground business could force him to actually give a fuck. Just peace and quiet drifted all over him, enough to make him feel like he was floating on the cloud.

When the former World Nobel had nothing to add to that answer, the younger went back to his previous activity—staring into nothingness for god knows how long and closed his eyes.

Small, careful footfalls then disturbed their concentration, pulling Doflamingo away from his puzzle. The footsteps stopped right next to him before a whisper tickled his ear.

"Young master." It was Baby 5 who ventured into their space, but the captain was okay with that. "Giolla sent me to tell you that lunch is ready."

The little girl must have been under impression that Corazon was currently sleeping and had no intention in disturbing his nap. Unknown to her however, the executive was actually wide awake and fully aware of his surrounding, from the splash of the waves against the ship, down to the child's laughter from below.

From Baby 5, Doflamingo shifted his gaze to the still form next to him. He opened his mouth, probably to wake the other, but then quickly snapped his teeth together before any sound could escape.

"Just go on without us."

Tiny specks of concern clouded her brown orbs as her fingers curled around the armrest. "Are you sure? Do you want me to—"

Doflamingo waved his hand airily. "We'll be down later." When the girl didn't make any movement that suggested she would leave any time sooner, the man made a shooing motion and added, "Well, what are you waiting for? Scoot. Off you go now."

After contemplating for a moment, Baby 5 finally yielded and walked back into the ship. Lying back on the incliner with one hand tucked under behind his head, the captain waited until the footfalls beyond his hearing range, and waited some more, before he swung his legs to the side and stood up. He was slightly startled however, when without warning, Corazon grabbed on his hand, fingers circling around his wrist in a solid grip. His brother was frowning slightly like he was nervous.

"I'm just going to bring the food outside, not fighting a sea monster." If there's anything more ridiculous, the younger only tightening his grip on his brother and Doflamingo rolled his eyes. "Roci, it will take less than five minutes. I highly doubt the sea is going to turn upside down when I'm away."

The grip went slack eventually and the older blonde tugged his hand back. "Now be still and don't do anything destructive." Was his last reminder before Doflamingo went inside, fingers scratching his non-itchy head.

Behind him, series of needy whine reigned across the deck.

 **XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx** **XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 _ **12.15 p.m**_

So the actual time taken for Doflamingo to go the dining hall and returned back to the deck was slightly longer than he had anticipated. Around ten minutes or so. For one, a minor food fight took place on the dining table by the time he entered the area and the captain was compelled to bring the chaos to an end before it escalated into something more… well, dangerous. And two, he couldn't exactly sprint inside the ship while carrying plates of pasta, salads, pizza, and potato soup, could he now?

Even so, Doflamingo doubted Corazon would be satisfied by such excused when the said person appeared like someone with an abandonment issue and currently staring at him as if he had left him hanging on a rope for more than two decades.

"Here." The older Donquixote placed the tray slowly on the small table to minimize any spill, especially from the soup and juice. When the executive further scrunched his nose in dissatisfaction at his brother's lack of apologetic gesture, Doflamingo frowned and gave the younger's a smack at the back of his head. "Stop making that face. If you are that hungry, you should have followed and help me instead."

Like anyone would be that dense to think that it was hunger that made Corazon upset.

Taking the plate of classic spaghetti carbonara, Doflamingo the handed it to his brother. "Carbonara." The older Donquixote informed as though his brother had no clue at all. "Your favourite. I even had to fight with everyone for the pancetta, so be grateful."

Almost instantly, the annoyance dissipated, and replaced with hunger, especially when the nerves in his brain picked up the creamy and smoky aroma from the pasta. He took the plate and the fork from the captain's awaiting hand and wasted not even a second to dig in; the anger was forgotten then and there. Doflamingo waited few more seconds watching his brother twirled the fork to pick up as much pasta as he could before chomping it down in one go. The left side of his cheek bulged slightly like a hamster as he chewed on his food, leaving the captain to snort at the comical picture.

On the other hand, the older blond had picked the meat mania pizza, loaded with beef pepperoni, beef sausage, ground beef and loads and loads of chicken potpourri sausage. He took a large bite out of his first slice and hummed, savouring the light and crispy crust that enabled him to enjoy the toppings. Another two large bites later, Doflamingo grabbed the salad bowl, ate down few forkful before he went back attending the remaining of the pizza slices only to realize that his brother had stolen one of them.

"Really now?" The other only shrugged and continued wolfing down the stolen pizza in his hand.

 _Opportunistic little twerp._

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 _ **3.20 pm**_

Doflamingo woke up with a start from his nap when something hard, and edgy hit him, right in the centre of his head. In fact, the captain was too startled, that his consciousness surged back into him in a split second. It was with mild irritation that he noted he was hit by a leather bound book just now. It was with major annoyance that he realized it was the News Coo who dropped the fucking thick book on top him and now flying away without an ounce of remorse. As long as it has delivered the ordered goods to the supposed-to-be receiver, the bird seemed content enough like it doesn't give a fuck about the world. If it wasn't for the fact that his eyes were still sore from the non-gentle awakening, the former World Noble would have shredded the hat-wearing seagull into pieces.

For now however, there was nothing much he could do except than filing his rage for later vengeance.

After messaging his sore head with fingers a couple of time, Doflamingo went to pick up the book only to notice that he was covered with a blanket from waist to shoulder. And secondly, Corazon was nowhere to be found, leaving his chair empty. He then thumbed the warm material in between his fingers before arriving at the conclusion that his brother must have been the one who put on the blanket. The book was momentarily forgotten as the older Donquixote stood up and placed it on the chair, bundled together with the blanket. Having his brother outside his line of sight only caused the apprehension to escalate within him and without dilly dally, Doflamingo walked into the ship.

His strides were at least twice as longer as the captain walked into along the hallway. Still, he refused to admit that he was jogging partially at the moment when Corazon was still nowhere within his space even after he had searched into three rooms inside the ship. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't in the kitchen, he wasn't in the common room and Doflamingo doubted that his brother was in any other executives' room and playing chess with them. If thing comes to worse where he still couldn't find Corazon even after he had barged into Giolla's room, the captain then felt he has every permission to turn every single object in the fucking ship upside down.

Luckily enough, there was no need for such dramatic measure when at last, he found Corazon inside the library. He sat there, on one of the three seated sofas situated close to the window, both feet tucked under him as he slouched against the armrest, finger lazily tracing along the edge of the book he had in his hand. A large pillow supported his back and Doflamingo could see a steaming mug of coffee was sitting idly on the window sill.

Upon his entry into the library, Corazon lifted his head and acknowledged his presence with a smile before the executive brought his attention back to the book. From closing the door behind him to walking across the room to where his brother was, Doflamingo did them as slow as possible to minimize the noise. No matter where it was, even inside a pirate ship, a library is a library and therefore, any loud noise was unacceptable.

Of course, Doflamingo didn't want to disturb the sleeping infant currently nestling firmly against Gladius's chests who seated at the other side of the room and close to the book shelves. Not surprisingly, the marksman too was seen napping on the sofa.

Doflamingo ignored the snoozing fest at the time being and closing in to the executive. He peered down at the book and recognized it almost immediately.

'The Uncanny Valley.'

 _He must have loved the story line so much since he kept reading it over and over again._

The younger surely loved the book, that must be it. After all, Corazon wasn't a keen reader. Sure he read newspaper once in a while, but a book… Let's just assume that the executive wasn't the type of person who does well in activities that required patience and concentration.

"Don't you ever get bored reading this one again and again?" The captain mumbled lowly as he picked up a nearby chair and placed right next to sofa so he could loom over his brother from behind. As he knew the possible incoming answer, Doflamingo didn't give his brother enough time to answer and continued, murmuring into Corazon's soft hair, "Why didn't you wake me up before coming here? I got harassed by the stupid News Coo just now, you know."

One arm resting over his laps, the older Donquixote reached out with his other free hand to thumb few pages of the book from behind. "You haven't reached the chapter where he sews the wig into women's scalp…" He commented airily where Corazon responded by giving out a delicate headshake before grabbing his coffee.

While the executive took small sips of his caffeine, Doflamingo's eyes wondered around the area which later landed and zeroed on the napping duo few meters away from them.

Similar to Corazon, Gladius too had utilized a pillow to help propping his body up against the armrest. Except that, his legs were fully stretched instead and filled the soft entirely. Eyes closed, his left elbow was tucked into the far end of the armrest as he cradle his cheek with his palm while his other arm circled around the sleeping Dellinger on his chest. The soft, even rise and fall of his chests had probably lulled the seven months old baby, coupled with the silence inside the library. On his stomach and cheek pressed firmly against the young man, baby Dellinger continued to suckle on his pacifier as he napped. Once in a while, his tiny fingers tightened their grip on Gladius jacket only released it seconds later.

Doflamingo hated to admit this, but the picture was sort of adorable and not to mention, contagious.

Yet, Corazon decided to ruin the moment. Doflamingo was aware of this when he sensed the atmosphere, the tranquillity inside the library suddenly tainted with mischievousness, emitted heavily from his brother. The captain didn't get enough time to stop the younger when the executive closed the book in his hand and sauntered towards the sleeping duo in one swift movement. How he was able to perform such act without a single noise was beyond his comprehension.

"Roci, stop!"

Nothing reached his brother by now as the feeling to mess up with the two was too overwhelming. Once he was within their space, Corazon stopped and reached for the pacifier. Everyone in the ship was aware that Dellinger's high pitch cry was so loud it practically could be heard from miles away. Oh, just imagine the look on Gladius when—

"Stop." With his eyes still closed, Gladius warned the executive. Corazon flinched at the sudden warning and retracted his hand to his chest, watching young Gladius slowly opened his left eyes only. The dark skinned marksman then rotated his goggle so he wouldn't have to squint and sighed, narrowing his eyes at the tall executive.

Messaging the side of his head, he continued with voice barely above whisper."He can barely sleep at night as it is, and now when I finally able to get him to take a nap, I'd like very much for him to stay like that." Gladius shifted slightly, his hand quickly rubbed the baby's small back in a circular motion when he sensed Dellinger scrunched his eyebrows in discomfort.

From behind, Doflamingo walked over to them and stood close to the sulking executive. Corazon seemed disappointed when he was unable to tease the toddler like he always has… Again.

"Still down with a fever, is he?" The captain placed his large palm on the child's forehead. Warm… but not enough to cause any panic.

Without warning, Gladius slapped his captain's hand away when Dellinger began to whine again. "He's teething. What do you expect?" The young man snapped at Doflamingo—a very rare occurrence for someone who held higher-than-any–mountain respect for the young master. Clearly, the lack of sleep Gladius was getting nowadays interfered with his common sense and perception of his surrounding and he only realized his mistake when he saw the golden eyebrow rose by five millimetres.

"Sorry." Gladius slowly propped himself up further without any intention to wake the sleeping blondie. "It's just that," Reaching for the small canister on the small table behind him, the marksman spilled a couple of white pills from it only to pop the pain killers into his mouth and dry swallowed them. "Ever since his teething began, he gets very fussy especially at night with all those crying and whining. The only place he could get some sleep is here in the library and that only happens for a couple of hour before he wakes up again and started chewing on my arm until morning. And then he gets cranky again because of the sleepless night. He even gets fussy over his bottle nipple because if it's too hard, he'll cry and if it's too soft, he'll cry."

As if on cue, Dellinger's eyelids fluttered open and before long—only a minute perhaps, the child began to feel upset over something and squirmed around in discomfort. He chewed on his pacifier hard, but it seemed such action failed to reduce the pressure in his swollen gums. While the little blondie began kicking Gladius in the thighs, said man grabbed something from the table again—a chewy pink silicone in butterfly shape, submerged deeply into a bowl of water mixed with ice cubes. He plucked the pacifier from the confinement of the swollen gum only to have it replaced with the cold teether. It appeared to do the trick in easing the pain and pressure as Dellinger sniffed and continued to gnaw on the soft, cold toy.

"And for the last five days, I've been getting less than three hours sleeps at night." The painkillers wasn't fast enough for the effect to kick in as Gladius was seen pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can barely get through the day without having the urge to strangle anyone."

In his arms, baby Dellinger's hand were having difficulty in searching for something to hold on, so Gladius offered his fingers instead for the toddle to latch on. He winced slightly however, when the child squeezed them too hard considering the strength of half merman Dellinger possessed.

"Just take turns watching him… or leave him to Giolla. Fufufufufu, come here, you…" Bending down, Doflamingo reached for the child and was about to pluck him away from the young man when Dellinger began to sob and struggle in the captain's hands. With a confused frown, the former World Noble dropped the child back down which he quickly buried his face into the lapel of Gladius's coat, gums still latching on the toy. How odd… Dellinger was the type of kid who gets along with everyone easily and rarely shies away from people's touch.

A sigh pursed the other's lips. "Yeah, that's the problem. He doesn't want to go to anyone else. I even have to take him to the bathroom and with me because if I'm not within his vision for more than ten seconds, the sky will be split open with his cry." Gladius stroked Dellinger's head to get him to calm down and brought the living bundle up close so he could tuck the blond head under his chin. Free from his usual hat, the marksman ignored the tickling sensation made by the soft golden strands against the underside of his chin, only making sure that the horns stayed away from the soft spot of his skin.

"Don't we have something to sooth it? Gel or something?" With his index finger, the captain gently nudged the toy away from Dellinger's mouth and peered thoughtfully into small cavern. At this point, the gum appeared red, swollen and bruised looking in which Doflamingo could see the emerging lower central incisors faintly if he squinted hard enough. Well, there's nothing much they could do but to wait for the tooth to break the skin.

"Too risky. Some of them have side effects and can cause methemoglobinemia and I can't rub some random painkiller on his gums since he may develop Reye's Syndrom ." Gladius stuffed the toy back into Dellinger's mouth when the tall blond was done with his checking. "So far, I've given him infant painkiller and traditional teethers."

By the time Gladius was done with his explanation, both Doflamingo and Corazon shared a confused look. Last time he checked, Gladius was the ship's marksman, not a bloody paediatrician. But his bewilderment was later answered when he noticed the thick book that has just fallen from the sofa the young man was lying on.

 _'Your Baby's First Year Week by Week; 2nd Edition.'_

Of course… That explained the knowledge.

Fortunately enough, the six months old still allowed the captain to pat him fondly on the head as Dellinger sighed, feeling slightly hungry. The soreness in his lower gum however dampened his craving for an evening snack, so he settled with gnawing on his butterfly shape teether. In between the patting and at the Doflamingo's attempt to replace the butterfly teether in Dellinger's mouth to twisty ball one that would make rattle sounds with every shake, twist and roll, Corazon returned to his chair and resumed with his reading. He wasn't in slight interested in listening to the older Donquixote's cooing as the man coaxed the child to give up on his current toy.

But he didn't get the chance to replace it when Senor Pink entered the room with a small bowl in his hand and didn't halt even for a second from venturing further into the belly of the library.

"Still no sign of teeth?" Once he was close enough, the man murmured. He sounded slightly off without cigarette pinched in between in lips, Doflamingo noted that.

"Hnn." Grunted the tired marksman. If anyone observed long and hard enough, they would definitely notice the faint dark circle underneath his eyes. Or… to make it easier, you could just pluck the ridiculous goggles off, take a look at them for two seconds and scram away in full speed before he had the chance to shoot you down.

"Figured." Senior commented and gave the bowl to Gladius in which the other only responded with a blank, confused expression. "Cold yogurt." He decided to throw in the rope. "Joila said this can help. He gets to eat snack and the cold can reduce the pain. Win-win situation."

… _For the boy. Since he would still be one to feed him._

Senior Pink might have picked up the disgruntle noise from the young man because a moment later, he placed the bowl on the table and grabbed on the child by his waist, a bit more forceful even in order to completely able to peel him off from the marksman. As expected by everyone in the room, little Dellinger twisted, struggled and began to snivel in his arms. But before it could escalate to a whole new level of crying, Senior quickly pressed the living bundle firmly but gently against his chest and began this sort of rocking motion. It gave a sense of comfort to the baby, only to the point he has stopped struggling but still keeping his gaze locked on Gladius, trailing every inch of the man's movement as if he would disappear any time soon.

"Get some rest, Gladius." Senor continued rocking the little blondie in his chest, fingers softly stroke the head tucked neatly under his chin. Distraction at this particular moment was important to take Dellinger's mind off his mouth and the extra cuddling was definitely did the trick.

Dellinger sighed and stared at the small spoon of yogurt Doflamingo was nudging against his lips before slowly accepted the cold trick. Specially formulated milk was still his favourite, but the yogurt's texture, cold and slightly tang sensation somewhat felt nice in his mouth. So he allowed the captain to spoon feed him, only paused momentarily as soon as he saw Gladius stood up from the sofa.

Sceptical at first, the marksman eventually agreed with the enticing idea Senor had suggested just now. An hour or two of a shut eye on his hammock should be enough, so he deemed. Even if Senor was the second person in the ship that Dellinger could tolerate being handled by, Gladius doubted the child would stay quiet for a long time. He noticed the alarmed look Dellinger displayed, heaved a sigh and brought his arm up to pat the infant's head in which the boy immediately grabbed on his sleeve with his tiny fingers.

"Be good, A'ight..?" Due to the extreme fatigue, even his manner of speaking has been compromised by now. "I'll be back."

As a parting gift, Gladius took the twisty ball teether—the one that Doflamingo was so keen to make Dellinger use—from the bowl only to replace the butterfly toy he currently had in his mouth. The child took it alright, although he wasn't slightest entertained by the rattling noise made by the ball when he gnawed on it. For now, he was more focused on the young man before him who appeared in dilemma more than anything. His speech capability was still far ahead, so Dellinger had no any other means to respond, except for staying pliant in Senor's arms.

But he did reach out his arms when Gladius closed the library door behind him and made a muffled noise behind his teether.

"Mpphh…uummmhhpp…"

If Senor wasn't a moment faster to muffle the frantic noise by smothering the infant against his chest, Gladius would have stormed back into the library and took Dellinger back into his protective hug, exhausted or not. Everybody was certain of that by now.

"Hush… Now, now, Gladius won't disappear." Convinced that the marksman wouldn't barge in anytime soon and ripped the boy away from him, Senor relaxed his hold on Dellinger and shifted him here and there so the child could breathe without having to wheeze. He readjusted the teether clamped loosely in his mouth and took the bowl of yogurt from his captain's hand, ready to head out. Perhaps a fresh air and a quick dip in water could lift Dellinger's mood.

"Let's get you some fresh air, hhmm..?"

The former World Noble, who still had his feet rooted into the floor, somewhat aware of Senor's intention. "Where are you going..? You can feed him here."

"Hnn..?" Senor squeezed the small hand tugging on the loose button of his shirt gently. Seemed like Dellinger had found something to entertain himself for the time being. "I'm just going down a bit so he could take a quick dip in water."

"You're going to throw him into an open sea? He's barely reached seven months. He'll drown." A barely there disbelieve frown shifted both Doflamingo's eyebrows.

Behind him, Corazon snorted. Even if half of his face obscured by the mystery slash thriller novel, the noise was so lurid to be heard inside the library, enough to make the older Donquixote turned his slightly to flash an annoyed scowl toward his brother.

Well, even Senor thought the idea of Dellinger drowning in an open sea was ridiculous. "He's a fighting fish descendent. I highly doubt the sea would do any damage on him." The black haired man stated a-matter-of-factly, hissing slightly when Dellinger's small horns poked him in the underside of his chin. "Just last two weeks, he managed to swim hundred-fifty meters in one single breath. If Diamante hadn't kept the harness on check, this kid would be swimming across New World by now."

"Besides," He added. "I'd rather not keep him around someone who has bad reputation with small creatures." As he said this, Senor trailed his gaze towards the quiet executive sitting at the far back of the room. The said executive, in return, responded by saturating his blue orbs with such mischievous enough to make chill travels along any grown men's spine. He smirked behind his book and that only gave Senor more than ten reasons to take Dellinger away from the man's breathing space.

"Yeah, exactly my point." The argument then ended with Senor closing the door while juggling both baby Dellinger and a bowl of yogurt in his hands, without giving a millimetre space of opportunity for Doflamingo to retort.

Given no chance to prolong the argument, the captain could only have a one-sided glaring competition with the door for few more seconds before he walked back towards his brother, giving the younger a nasty look as he did so.

"You're a child abuser…"

Doflamingo huffed slightly as he plopped onto the far end of the sofa Corazon was currently occupying, watching his brother scribbling something into a piece of paper. Once finished, the younger blond lifted it high for the older Donquixote to see.

 **'No, Doffy. I'm just a jerk.'**

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 _ **7.30 P.M**_

Much to Corazon's chagrin, Doflamingo had dragged him along to eat dinner with the rest of the family members. Earlier on in the library, he had went for his usual strategy to dodge dinner with everyone by rooting every inch of his skin into the sofa and gave his brother a pitiful look akin to a five year old boy who wishes to deny bath. It worked, well, most of the time. But not this time however. Not only was the former World Noble able to dodge the wet, sparkling eyes attack with ease, inconsiderate bastard even threatened him to drag him all the way to the dining area by his neck if he didn't move his ass in a shake or two.

So he moved, unwillingly, ate dinner and sulked, right next to his brother as he stuffed spoonfuls of potato and ham gratin in rapid succession so he could excuse himself in let's say, five minutes top.

That is, until a plate of rosemary-garlic chicken was placed in front of him.

"Eat." Next to him, Doflamingo mumbled around a forkful of meatloaf. "I know you don't like to eat with the rest of the family, but that doesn't mean I'll allow you to compromise your diet."

Corazon frowned in retaliation and opened his mouth, though no words passed through his lips.

"Just watching you eat makes me hungry." The captain added and nudged the plate closer to his brother with his free hand.

Ten seconds passed by and Corazon was still staring at the chicken as though they had done real damage to him in his past life. He later huffed and ignored the meal presented before him as he continued with his potato, hell bent on leaving the table as soon as possible. The dinner would be no less different after all, with or without him. In less than a minute, the younger Donquixote finally finished with his meal, dropped his fork and was about to stand up when Doflamingo yanked him back down by his wrist. Corazon yelped when he was dropped unceremoniously back to his chair.

"Can you at least wait until I'm done?" Doflamingo sighed, keeping his finger firmly wrapped around his brother's wrist. "… Alright?"

Of course, his request was met with discontent frown coupled with low grunts, and only that. At least, his brother didn't decide to transform into some sort of escape artist. Only then, the older loosened his grip on his brother, but otherwise still keeping their hands connected. It still wasn't an easy task though, to actually manoeuvre the chicken salad into his mouth without spilling any while keeping his hold on the slimy creature next to him, especially when said creature tugged his hand persistently every once in a while. To Doflamingo, such action was nuisance and not to mention, ruining his appetite. To Corazon however, it was entertaining to see how his brother almost poked his own eyes with the fork while seventy percent of the dried cranberries from the salad ended up either stuck on Trebor's almighty snot or flew into someone else's plate.

Wiping the mayonnaise from his cheek with his bare palm, the captain hissed at the executive who was looking everywhere inside the dining area other than his brother, but otherwise, still keeping the cheeky grin plastered on his face.

"Will you stop that?! You're spilling things!"

Corazon made his comeback. **'No. You're the one who's spilling things, Doffy.'**

Or at least, that was Doflamingo had thought the little shit had just mouthed just now. He didn't get enough chance to ponder further when the younger blond tugged his hand again, successfully in causing the other to knock over the glass of water in front him.

With wide and disbelief eyes, the former World Noble could do nothing productive but to watch as half of water from the glass sloshed rather dramatically into his plate, thinning out what used to be thick, creamy gravy. Worse, even his sleeve and the table cloth have become the victims of the small flood disaster created.

"Stop pulling, Roci!"

 **'Make me.'** Corazon's eyes challenged the other.

Faster than a viper, Doflamingo's hands reached forward to smack the side of his brother's head. There were only few more inches left for his palm to make contact against Corazon's skull when his action—pretty much everyone's actions—was halted by the soul shattering wail coming from the other side of the table. Too startled with the sudden outburst, the former world noble was only a moment away from hugging his brother

Apparently, Doflamingo wasn't the only person on the table who was having a hard time in keeping small creature on the same exact spot for more than five seconds. Well, Corazon was definitely larger than life himself, but the point was made.

"Come on, Dellinger… What's wrong with your milk?" At the other side of the table, Giolla tried to persuade the child perched on the chair next to her. Since the very beginning of dinner, the said infant has been refusing his formulated milk enough to make anyone pull their hair off from the roots. Sure Dellinger was feeding eagerly from his bottle at the beginning, but only for five seconds before the boy suddenly pulled back.

That was when the wailing began.

"Dear," The woman continued, nudging the bottle nipple softly against Dellinger's quivering lips. "You won't grow any bigger if you don't eat now."

The aftermath could only get from bad to worse. Instead of drinking his milk like he was encouraged to, Giolla's attempt was met with another set of sobbing while the child shook his head furiously and hit the edge of the much larger table before him with his tiny fists so strong that the piece of furniture was actually shaking. Dellinger was definitely hungry, upset even, but none of the present crew member could expose the mystery behind the infant reluctance to feed.

Mystery behind, someone really needed to calm the boy down.

"What's up with his butt?" Diamante held on the table so the table wouldn't shake so much. Most of the crew members by then had already put down their utensils since it was next to impossible to continue eating while the table was shaking so much due to Dellinger's tantrum.

Right after Diamante, Senor quickly added as he picked his bowl of soup off from the table since the content inside was beginning to slosh around. "Giolla, I don't care what kind of horrible painting you're going to put up next, but you need to feed Dellinger right this instant. He's clearly hungry!"

"I know! That's what I've been trying to do for the past fifteen minutes!" Even Giolla was starting to get flustered over her futile attempts. "And my paintings are not horrible! How rude of you, Senor!" Turning her head slightly to the side, the woman huffed at her fellow crewmate before resuming her endeavour. By now, Dellinger's cheeks were already wet with tears and the panic level among the crews only amplified to a whole new stage when the infant began tugging on his ears.

"The milk, Giolla! Maybe you've gotten the formula wrong!" Machvise shouted from the other side of the table. _Fuck, this is ridiculous._ One minute it was the table that was shaking, and another minute everyone could feel the whole ship quaked. Even Baby 5 had somewhat miraculously thrown off from her chair during that tremor. If he hadn't gotten hold on the girl by her waist and kept her close against his side, Baby 5 would have bounced off yet again and landed on Pica's laps.

Now, could anyone tell how awkward would that be..?

"It's the same formula I've been feeding him—eeep!" Surprised out of her wits, Giolla almost leaped one foot backward when Dellinger's fist made contact with the table surface only few centimetres away from her. "Maybe it's because of his teething."

Doflamingo, who had just been head-butted by his brother—accidently, so the captain had hopped—in the chin, shoved Corazon from further smothering him so he could speak to Giolla. "Then how he was able to feed him this afternoon and the day before again?"

"It's Gladius, young master! Gladius's the one who's been feeding him!" Buffalo bellowed when he was finally able to cough out the chicken wing from his mouth and immediately cleared his throat by pounding his fist against his chest. It has been stuck in there ever since the quaking began. Any longer and the boy was certain his life would be jeopardized.

 _Aaah… Gladius. Of course…_ The same young man who probably had half of his soul in a paradise by now. He was most likely still in his deep slumber, completely oblivious to the unearthly disaster striking their ship.

Something then flew across the table and hit Lao-G in the head which turned out to be a bowl of fruit and yogurt. Poor middle aged man almost saw blinking stars behind his eyelids and groaned at the sharp pain erupted from the side of his head. Slowly, Doflamingo's eyes trailed to where the bowl had came from only to have his line of vision narrowed down on his little brother next to him. Said man only gave a sheepish shrug while he wiped off some of the yogurt residue off his cheeks, nibbling the tip of his yogurt covered spoon with a small grin.

Doflamingo narrowed his eyes. _That better be an accident, you clown._ But the persistent grin splitting the younger's face into half hinted him otherwise.

For once, the captain willed himself to belief that Corazon was only a clumsy fool and not a five year old child crammed into that large body.

Having enough of the fiasco, Doflamingo shouted, "Someone go get Gladius—

Just then, the door was slammed open so loud and abruptly, enough to make Baby 5 jolted in Machvise's arm. Sauntering in only a moment later was the mentioned young man with eyes only half way parted and hair tussled in every direction. Fresh from few hours of undisturbed sleep and free from his usual attire and mask, Gladius was only dressed in a simple black t-shirt and deep red, plaid flannel pants. Even his goggle was missing. Within the confinement of his palm however, was something that looked akin to a feeding bottle nipple, if anyone squinted hard enough. But nobody had enough breath to actually care since at that moment, they were too occupied in keeping everything on the table from flying around and hitting someone in the head. Lao-G was indeed a very good example.

Still, he somewhat appeared unperturbed with earth shattering cry reverberating throughout the dining area nor the way the floor beneath his bare feet was swaying—though in an unnatural way—and maintaining a rather lazy pace as he strolled further into the room. Sleeping beauty didn't even bat an eyelid when one the elegant, hanging pendant light came down crashing right behind him.

Gladius kept on walking, only stopping at the spot where he could finally snatch Dellinger's feeding bottle from Giolla's nervous hand. In no mood to comment on the fiasco taking place right within his breathing space, the marksman unscrewed the bottle head, only to replace with the nipple he had with him. The swaying dampened the efficiency of the task by thirty percent, but the young man still succeeded in ten seconds flat. And when he finally able to secured the newly replaced nipple to the feeding bottle, Gladius threw the old one somewhere into the corner of the room as though the piece of shit wasn't even worth to be looked upon.

Then, he stuffed the feeding bottle straight into the crying infant's mouth by the nipple in one swoop. No twenty minutes of coaxing and definitely no warning. Just like that, Dellinger's mouth was filled.

At the same moment, the rest of the crew gasped. That's it. _If Dellinger didn't decide to gore Gladius's gut, then he'd definitely be a one arm man in the next two second._

None of those took place, however. One minute has passed and everything was still in place, better even. Instead of presented with another crying fit, medium scale earth quake and one mutilated body, only silence filled every corner and every nook inside the room, saved by the gentle sound of waves hitting the bottom of the ship. The child in concern still had his mouth latched heavily on the bottle as Dellinger vigorously drank his milk, clearly in hurry to satisfy his hunger.

While everyone was still in their frozen form, jaws dangerously touching thighs, Gladius just yawned lowly and scratched the back of his head before trying to move his hand away so that Dellinger could hold on to the bottle himself. Then again, such attempt would be proven so effortless if the infant wasn't holding on his wrist with his tiny fingers like he was holding on for his dear life. This made young Gladius frowned a bit. But he quickly dismissed the dilemma by slipping his free arm under the boy's thighs, hoisted the living bundle and taking a seat on the empty chair next to Senor before setting the infant on his laps, all done in one swift movement. In instant, Dellinger made himself more comfortable by wiggling a bit so he could lean his head against Gladius's shoulder. The boy sighed afterward and continued to suckle on his formula. This time, with much slower pace.

Now that the tremor had subsided from top to bottom, everyone could finally shuffle through their vocabularies without actually biting ones tongue. "What just happened..?" Senor was the first one to be able to formulate the first even question. All the mean time, the others had began to pick up their jaws from further laying on the floor

Gladius, oblivious that the question was actually directed towards him only responded by picking up the empty bowl nearby and filled it with the mushroom and potato soup. He then nonchalantly grabbed the parmesan crescent from Giolla's plate and began tearing it into small pieces. Doing the task with only one free hand was indeed tricky since his other hand was still holding the feeding bottle, but he made do. Half of his mind was still stuck in land of the dead, but hunger drove his body to move. Not exactly in perfect coordination, but at least he hasn't bumped into any walls or tripped himself silly.

Well… He did bump into the door once but that doesn't count.

"Gladius." As Machvise settled Baby 5 back on her chair, the large man raised an eyebrow at the man lack of respond. "Senor—no, we're all wondering on how did you manage to shut him up..?

As though Machvise's question was merely drip drop of summer drizzle, the marksman provided no palpable reaction. He simply dipped the small, torn up bread into the soup, popped it into his mouth and chewed in moderate pace. Few more dipping and chewing, coupled with lazy swallowing, it was only then Gladius responded. None too eager however, since he was mumbling with a great length of reluctance, but at least, he was speaking in a language that they all could understood.

Well, somehow.

"He was hungry. So I fed him."

Multiple eye rolling actions ensued inside the dining area. Surely they did not anticipate such transparent answer. At least, not from Gladius. The young man understood their question—surely he did—but refused to acknowledge the sub-content behind it.

"Thank you. Very informative, Young Gladius." Senor remarked sarcastically. "That's what Giolla exactly did and look what happened? The ship almost capsized and young master's glasses almost shattered into million pieces."

On instinct, Doflamingo traced his fingers across the flat surface of his glasses, but found nothing out of ordinary. Not even a crack.

Gladius huffed, half annoyed when bombarded with questions when all he wanted was a peaceful mealtime. He was still sleepy, hungry, and questions were definitely not in his menu.

"The teething made him very sensitive." He mumbled around small mouthful of bread, noticing that Dellinger's fingers were no longer latched on his wrist. So he removed his hand, only to have it wrapped loosely around the child's mid-section. "Everything seems wrong to him, including his bottle nipple. If it's too hard, he'd hate it because it hurts his gum. If it's too soft, he'd hate it even more because it doesn't ease the pressure. But in tonight's case, it's probably because the nipple's too soft."

Senor looked passed the marksman only to receive more bewildered facades from the crews, especially from Giolla. She didn't even notice that she was stirring her tea with a butter knife.

"And you just happen to be holding the right nipple with you..?" By now, Senor's eyebrows have reached his hairline.

"Hell no." Gladius scoffed at the assumption. On his laps, little Dellinger has just finished with his meal and the marksman quickly took the bottle away and placed on the table before the fighting fish descendent decided to use it as a weapon. "I ordered multiple feeding bottles from the catalogue."

"You did what now?" On alert, Diamante put his glass down and stared hard at Gladius. "Are you telling me that you used the ship's money to buy dozens—"

"Twenty to be exact. I had to keep buying them until I found one that suited his condition."

Eyes closed, the executive pinched the bridge of his nose. "But twenty is just—"

"Would you rather have the ship split opened?" Gladius boldly challenged, keeping his lips around his spoon even after he had swallowed the soup. As he swirled the spoon inside his mouth with a muffled 'clack', the marksman squeezed Dellinger's socked feet softly when the child began to kick the table leg in discomfort.

Diamante groaned, rolled his eyes multiple times and smacked Corazon's hand when the Heart Executive poked the grilled mushroom in his plate in every intention to steal it. The other quickly pulled his hand back together with the fork and grumbled under his breath. To be honest, if the younger blonde wasn't related to his captain by any means, Diamante would have loved to smack the other senseless by now.

"No need to exaggerate that much—"

Gladius raised an eyebrow.

"—alright, so he shook the ship quite a bit. Point taken." Defeated, the executive mumbled and sipped on his juice, noticing the lingering taste of mushroom soup when he swallowed. Some must have spilled into his glass during the tremor.

"How much long do we have to deal with his tantrum?" As he put his napkin down on the table, Doflamingo quickly gripped the back collar of Corazon's shirt to keep the other from slithering away.

It wasn't until five seconds later that young Gladius finally able to answer his captain as he had his hand filled with Dellinger squirming activity in his laps, which only ceased after the marksman gave him the diced up cucumber to gnaw on. "The teeth are almost out. A couple of days, top."

"How splendid." Now that the shinny stars were free from his sight, Lao G remarked sarcastically before sipping on his lukewarm coffee. _It tastes funny, though…_ "Meaning that we have to face this sort of behemoth for another two—ugghh!"

… Before empty milk bottle hit him square in between the eyes.

Apparently little Dellinger had sensed that he was mouthed just now and decided to take the matter into his hands by flinging the bottle with all his might. Lucky enough, the consequences of his wrath didn't get too far since Gladius managed to stop the boy from reaching for Pica's gigantic mug. Somehow, the young man had an eerie feeling that Trebor would be his next target.

"You have no right to say shit when I'm the one who's been getting three hours of sleep every night, watching over him and Dellinger is the one enduring the pain." Even Gladius started to get annoyed with the crews' lack of understanding in the whole teething ordeal. Too annoyed indeed that the marksman offered a very deep scowl towards each and every member as he gathered Dellinger into his arms and stood up. On instinct, the infant looped his short arms around Gladius's neck for support.

"Now Gladius—"

His mind was no longer on the crews as he blatantly ignored their responses and brought Dellinger closer to his chest. "They're pulling words out of their asses, aren't they?" Gladius murmured close to the small blondie, his nose touched the boy's smooth, left cheek.

The boy's respond was series of gibberish shouts. "Aaaahh—aahhhh—ggaaarrhh!" Dellinger's incapability in speech was indeed a blessing at that time. If it was the other way around, Gladius was certain the child would be sprouting curses, hissed and spits at them.

"He said that you guys are moron."

Satisfied with the mortified expression he received from the rest of the crews, Gladius stomped his way, kicking the chair to the side as he did, and headed straight to the door without giving them any leeway to retort. Instead of considering the future reprimand of his lack of discipline, the young man could only think of a nice, warm bath before going to bed. Surely letting the child in his arms to have the large bathtub all to himself would improve Dellinger's mood.

 _Who dares to say anything of he turns the floor outside the bath house into a minefield..?_

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It wasn't until Baby 5 sneezed that the crew finally recovered from their initial shock that has been slapping them across the face twice and continued with their meals silently albeit still drenched in a sense of apprehension. Even the children were no longer expressing their complaints over the unappetizing vegetables and the lack of sweet treats in tonight's dinner. Most of the foods were already a mixture of two to three kinds of dishes, but still edible, still worth to be finished. Nothing would ever disturb the disturbing tranquillity inside the dining area for the next half an hour.

Except that, Corazon has decided to slap tranquillity across the face by tripping his own two good feet when said executive attempted to tiptoe his way out of the room. In split seconds, two mugs flew into the air, chair broken into ten different pieces, Baby 5 landed on Pica's laps sprawling and all and roasted chicken wings smacked against the centre of the captain's face. Rather than a pirate and marine undercover, Corazon now was more like an embodiment of a human whirlwind. For every path he crossed, destructions were bound to take place.

Once the chaos ceased, which only happened when Corazon had laid face planted into the floor, said human whirlwind finally, yet clumsily struggled to rise up from his sprawling, on stomach position, but he made do. Oblivious with the intense staring inside the room which were meant to bore holes through his body, Corazon removed the pot covering his head, dropped it to the floor with a loud clatter before capturing the trickle of mushroom soup close to his mouth with his tongue. Both his hair down to his shoulders were drenched by the soup, but the Heart Executive didn't seem to mind the little disaster as his focus was more on his escape plan. Just now, said plan has failed obviously. But hey, like old people used to say: If you fail, try, try and try again, even though someone might get killed and a town or two get destroyed in the process.

So the last part was pretty much retarded. But the sentiment was crucial to him.

When the younger Donquixote took a tentative glance at the dining table—human whirlwind must have been under the impression that nobody with enough brain noticed his deeds or even the disaster just now—he immediately twitched on his butt when he was met with many type of annoyed glares. Dagger glare, spear glare, bullet glare, hammer glare—you name it. Only then he realized that he actually had enough brain cells to notice that the miniature disaster he had assumed before turned out to be colossal type.

As if compelled, Corazon offered a nervous grin while legs slowly unwinding, eyes moving from the crews to the exit back and forth and—

"Rocinante." Doflamingo practically spitted the name in between gritted teeth as he wiped the barbeque sauce off his forehead. "If you as much as shift your butt—"

Corazon refused to listen and succumb to his brother's threat by leaping towards the door like springbok, opened it, only to slam it back after he had fully exited the room. Everything was done in one smooth movement that the crews had a hard time to tell which from what, aside from the retreating heavy footsteps which were going fainter… _fainter… fainter…_

Among them however, stood one person who managed to snap out of the reverie faster than lightning which turned out to be the human whirlwind's older brother and he proved it by slamming his palms against the table, together with the knife and fork. _Oh hell to no. He'll be damned if he allows Corazon to slip away right under his breathing nose._

Adrenaline pumped through every vein and every fibre in his body like crazy. Out of reflex, Doflamingo stood up abruptly and rounded the table, uncared if he tripped over somebody's legs once and got his feet trapped amongst the chairs as long as he could cross the room and seize his brother by the neck before the human whirlwind could hide and make a fortress out of wine barrels. It happened once before which didn't turned out so well when the barrels got sliced into million pieces and the crew ended up swimming through the mess for few days. In his defence, it wasn't entirely his fault. Had his little brother surrendered without struggle, he wouldn't have to destroy their months of alcohol supply.

But honestly, somebody must have been drugging him with mind altering composite for years to make him believed that having long legs as his was sexy because right now, at the moment, they were anything but sexy. In fact, they were nothing but hindrance. It was times like this, the captain wished his legs were at least few inches shorter, just enough for him to navigate them better, rather than crashing into every obstacle before him.

But he managed somehow, someway without leaving behind disaster as big as Corazon did. Still, the crew, especially Diamante had to digress when he saw the door was sliced open by the captain's ability before it was crashed into unrecognizable mess with a single, hard kick.

 _Miniscule disaster..? Fuck him sideway_. Doflamingo could be as much destructive as the younger Donquixote, worse even.

Flash of yellow was the last thing they saw before the Former World Noble left the room, seemingly chasing after Corazon. Diamante, unlike the other crew, didn't as much gasp, groan, sigh and even curse at the catastrophes left for them to clean up and rectify later. Instead, with dull expression, the executive merely took out his notebook from his pocket and jotted down this month additional as well as future expenditure.

 _Twenty bottle nipples_

 _Mugs_

 _Dining table_

 _Door_

 _Pain Killer_

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 _ **8.30 P.M**_

The mood inside the bathhouse was the exact opposite of the dining area—less noise, zero disaster. Well, except for that time during Doflamingo's chase for the human whirlwind, where Corazon slipped on the wet tiles of the bathhouse, just when the older Donquixote had gotten a good, nice, firm grip on his neck, which eventually resulted both of them tumbled into the large bathtub—since said human whirlwind insisted on grabbing his brother's arm midair, right before the fall. Series of yelps, struggles, curses and violent water current ensued inside the tub and the chaos seized momentarily after the younger Donquixote's elbow accidentally made contact with the captain's cheek, just beneath his eyes.

For approximately five minutes, Doflamingo's consciousness had decided to leave him to play musical chair in some godforsaken island.

This led to their current situation—with Corazon fidgeting and blowing bubbles below the water surface and Doflamingo facing sideway across the tub, cheek bruised—both refused any type of communication. Of course, the younger blonde had long denied verbal communication with anyone on the ship, but for the elder to behave the same, it was comprehensible that the other was fuming. The fact could be easily established even by those who were born with less than a million brain cells. Hell, the captain even refused an eye contact as he continued to stare at the invisible pattern on the wall while messaging the side of his temple with two fingers.

It appeared that since they were both soaked to bones after the fall, the idea of dragging the younger Donquixote has to be dropped far down into the sea. Instead, they settled with a bath—a very long, silent, nerve-breaking bath—, just the two of them. Not a word, not a cough, not huff, not anything. There was no reaction coming from his older brother, even after the executive splashed the other with handful of water in a playful manner, saved for the continuous one-sided staring competition with the wall. Once in a while, Doflamingo would exhale loudly and wipe his face his face with his palm and that's that. Each of his movement would draw one or two twitches from Corazon, as though the younger was expecting for the captain to suddenly swim over and smack him senseless. Despite submerged in nice, hot water which was supposed to warm up his body, unwind and unbind any tense nerves, the younger Donquixote was anything but relaxed.

Although sounds exaggerating, Corazon at the moment felt like he was more than willing to kill for someone from the crew to suddenly jump into the bath house before the tense atmosphere managed to squeeze the breath out of him. A very naked Lao G was a very good example—anything would do, really.

Another exhale and the executive again twitched under the water. When certain that nothing came flying at him—this time, he expected the shampoo bottle to be hurled towards him—, Corazon blew more bubbles before reaching for the rubber ducky swimming idly in front of him. Must be belonged to baby Dellinger since the toddler since it was… well, logical. Because really, how disturbing the situation would be if Machvise was the one seen playing and squeezing the life out of the little ducky.

Disturbing as it might sound; it failed to stop the younger Donquixote to squeeze the rubber toy in his hand until it released a high pitched squeaking noise. He did it a couple of times, seemingly entertained by what he considered as cute sound.

That is, before Doflamingo's blue eyes met his in a startling speed.

"It's annoying. Stop it." His voice was loud and clear; his gaze was otherwise—distant and cold—which made Corazon's stomach clenched.

Biting his lower lips, the younger obeyed, a little bit more pliant this time. He released the rubber ducky to swim back and forth on the water surface, just in time Doflamingo stood up and climbed the edge of the tub. Alarmed, the executive waved the vapour from obstructing his view and scrambled his way to follow his brother, but the single cold, warning glare the captain shot at him stopped him midway. Instead, he could only watched from his spot—right in the middle of the tub—as the Former World Noble towel dried his body by the bench before getting dress with the sleep attire Baby 5 had brought in earlier on, in quick, yet organized movement, considering that he only put on the pajama pants, without the top. Surprised, _surprise._ He didn't as much as spared a single glance towards the executive as he left the bath house, closing the door behind him with such force that made the hinge rattled.

It took every ounce of Corazon's willpower to ward off the whimpers from filling the empty space inside the room.

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 _ **9.05 P.M**_

Doflamingo continued rubbing the towel all over his wet hair to remove any excess water, well aware of the clumsy, indecisive footsteps chasing after him persistently since the bathroom. He was only twenty feet away from reaching his quarter, slightly cold with hair still damp and aloof form. On his way to his room, the older blond made few pit stops—grab a glass of water from the kitchen, went to laundry room to check if the duvet from this morning has dried and snatched a random magazine from the rack in the common area—, all the while keeping half of his attention on his pursuer. He was close, but not close enough if Doflamingo suddenly decided to grab for him and smack him senseless. Every once in a while, the captain's sharp sense of hearing could perceive the barely audible sniffles from behind him which immediately replaced by a quick hitch of a breath everytime the Former World Noble cleared his throat.

Just when the older Donquixote was about to reach for the door handle, he spun on his heels and faced his pursuer. As one could expect, his pursuer, which turned out to be his little brother to nobody's surprised, practically jumped a foot in the air and quickly fiddled with his fingers. From where he stood as he leaned the side of his body against the door frame, the older noticed how apprehension filled each and every pore on that body of Corazon's until the executive had a hard time in keeping his nerves beneath his skin.

Corazon insisted in keeping their distance—two arms length—, obviously still in fear of facing the captain's wrath. Although the other kept his head down and stared at the spot in between his feet, it didn't escape his observation of the wetness saturating the younger's eyes as he balanced his weight from one foot to another. Emotions in fact, were present in his gaze—lots of them.

As he stood there without actually saying anything, the captain took in the dishevel state his brother was in. While Corazon managed to put on his pajama set without destroying half of the bathroom, the top part was actually worn inside out with buttons either ruined or messed up. And since the elastic part of his pants was set lowered than where it should have been, the hems appeared as though they were shredded by the claws of some carnivorous beast given that the younger blond has been dragging the loose ends all across the ship's wooden flooring.

At least, the executive remembered to put his pants on before venturing out of the bathroom.

"Corazon." Doflamingo was the one to begin the confrontation and straight away, he saw his brother's whole frame went rigid, tense as though all the systems inside his body ceased to function. He snapped his head up and for the first time in half an hour, their gaze locked on each other.

"I've got assignment for you." The older slung the towel over his shoulder and crossed his arms on his chest. "Go find Diamante first thing tomorrow morning. He'll brief you the details."

In contrast with his previous nervous features, everything about Corazon suddenly changed. His jaws clenched hard, gloomier, disappointed, more aloof, more distant, like he didn't want anything to do with everything, including Doflamingo. Nothing seemed to be reflected in the executive's eyes despite the fact that they were standing under bright lighting. They were dull, muted, and a bit cloudy in fact. A trail of water ran across his forehead before seeping into the inner corner of his left eye and yet, the younger blond didn't seem bothered by it. He didn't even blink.

He was no longer Roci. Today's magic was dispelled.

He was finally Corazon.

So Corazon nodded—an absolute indication that the command was acknowledged. His face was void of emotion when the younger turned away and began walking towards his own quarter, reaching for the door knob in no time. No goodnights wish tonight, as usual. Nothing else was there for him to stay any longer—

"Roci."

The single twitch of his shoulder gave away his pretence; Corazon heard him for the first time, surely he must as he slowly turned around, searching, tasting the water. It could have been a mistake; he could have heard the other wrong, he could have been given something which went far beyond against his instinct. Unless the evidence was there, overwhelming, the executive felt he had every right to scrutinize the situation.

…Until he saw the smirk playful working on Doflamingo's cheeks muscles as the captain shook his head and chuckled. "Roci, Roci…" Something must have tickled his funny bones and before long, the captain waved his hand, beckoning his brother to come closer.

He was back to Rocinante in a split second when he closed in their distance.

"Fufufuffufu," The older blond draped his arm over the other's shoulders once Corazon was within his reach, brought him closer and tucked the younger's blond head close to his chin. The overflowing moisture was back in the executive's eyes, along with the sniffles as Corazon pressed his head closer to Doflamingo's and wrapped his arms around his brother's midsection.. "I was just playing around, Roci. You have no idea how hilarious it was to see you all jumpy and fidgety."

Corazon immediately frowned and a small pout pursed his lips. The creased on his forehead then deepened when his brother laughed, and deepened more when he saw the bruised mark on Doflamingo cheek. He poked it with his forefinger which earned him a raised eyebrow from the other.

The captain shook off the other's concern with an airily wave. "It's nothing. I've survived worse. But, still… Were you about to cry just now? Or did you already cry in the bath? Hmmm..?" Doflamingo teased, murmuring into his brother's wet hair and felt Corazon shook his head in denial. He combed the blond locks with his fingers, ruffling them a bit to get the air moved through them, instead of having them clumped together in few places.

"Did you dislike it when I call you 'Corazon'?"

For a moment, everything seemed to be stagnant—silent, no movement—where the captain's line of vision was no longer extended to his surroundings. Instead, it was narrowed down to a single line which focused solely on his brother. Everything else was disregarded as Doflamingo studied Corazon's still form. It served quite a challenge for the Former World Noble to determine which from what when the other kept his head down with his long, front lock covering most of his eyes.

With deliberate slowness, Doflamingo allowed his fingers to cradle Corazon's strong jaw and made the other to look up at him. Like a docile feline, the Heart Executive was lax in his hand as the captain bore his gaze into the other's and stroked his cheek with soft strokes of his thumb. As always, the older blonde noticed the lack of flush in Corazon's skin, unlike him. Even his lips shared the same trait—pale, almost white in colour with a tiniest bit of pinkness. Despite they were only few inches apart, Doflamingo still failed to read the other even when the younger was looking into his eyes with half lidded gaze. No smile graced for him either.

"You look a lot like father."

That really came out unexpectedly and it didn't go unnoticed to Doflamingo the tiniest change in Corazon's expression. His pupils dilated by fraction and his brows shifted just then. It didn't extend more than a couple of seconds before his expression returned back to what it should have been.

However, Doflamingo decided to brush off the conversation by simple chuckles and a soft kiss to his brother's forehead, right after he released his hold on Corazon's chin. "Nevermind." The captain murmured into the skin, hand blindly reaching for the doorknob as he slowly manoeuvred both of them.

"Come on." As they entered his quarter, Doflamingo pressed his brother closer until the other's nose brushed against his neck. "Just this afternoon, the thing I've ordered was delivered. Another new book by your favourite author."

"Want me to read it to you?"

A small smile against his collarbone was the only response Doflamingo received which concluded their agreement. He would read to Corazon the first two chapters of his newly bought book; have some tea while at it, before tucking the younger in for bed right next to him. Before that, he needed to make sure that his brother's hair has properly dried and his top to be changed into something… well, less ruined. Odd… really. They rarely practiced this particular routine in fact.

Doflamingo rarely expressed the need for it.

Corazon rarely initiated it.

Illusion time usually was over when the upper bulb of their hourglass was emptied, which usually took place somewhere in the evening.

But tonight it seemed, both of them wished for the same thing, unwilling to wait who's going to initiate what. Both were delusional enough to believe the hourglass was broken and the fantasy remained.

… Just one more night, he wanted Roci to be his little brother.

… Just one more night, he wanted Doffy to be his older brother.

 **-The End-**

 **A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers. I love year end as much as the beginning, since this is where I'm blessed with less than two-percent work. Hopefully, I can update as many as I can for my delayed projects.**


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